


Could you write a happy ending, please?

by StyrofoamSlashPlans



Series: Dear Shakespeare [1]
Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Author knows nothing but angst, But don't worry so is Eddie, Canonical Character Death, Depression, Eddie comes back but not for a while, Eddie's dead, Fix-It, Ghost Eddie Kaspbrak, Grief/Mourning, Happy Ending, Healing, Heavy Angst, Hurt/Comfort, I put Stan in the tags but he's dead, I will never stop writing angst for the clown movie, It Gets Worse Before It Gets Better, M/M, Not Eddie's recovery sorry, Recovery, Richie Tozier Loves Eddie Kaspbrak, Sad Richie Tozier, The Turtle CAN Help Us (IT), They get their happy ending though, but not all the way, dying, sorry buddy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-27
Updated: 2020-04-27
Packaged: 2021-03-02 04:14:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 10,603
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23868853
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StyrofoamSlashPlans/pseuds/StyrofoamSlashPlans
Summary: The only pain more agonizing than being impaled through the chest and forced to bleed out in the sewers is being forced to watch the only people you could consider friends mourn over your lost body.AKA: Eddie dies, but nobody who dies in Derry ever really dies.
Relationships: Ben Hanscom/Beverly Marsh, Beverly Marsh & Richie Tozier, Bill Denbrough & Mike Hanlon, Bill Denbrough/Mike Hanlon, Eddie Kaspbrak & Richie Tozier, Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier, Patricia Blum Uris/Stanley Uris
Series: Dear Shakespeare [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1721281
Comments: 3
Kudos: 66





	1. Could you write a happy ending, please..?

**Author's Note:**

> Title and chapter titles from the song Romeo and Juliet by Hobo Johnson.

He had done it. He had finally overcome everything his life was built around for the last forty years. He had looked fear in the face and told It to go fuck itself, or something like that. Fear being a scary fucking clown, and the ‘Go fuck yourself’ being a conveniently sharp fencepost. 

After years and years of fear rooted so deep it still left him waking up in a cold sweat even under layers of scary clown amnesia. His whole life had been wasted away under a spell of unassuming success and normalcy. His whole life had been stolen from him by this thing. All of his happiness had been taken and locked deep in the back of his mind, Pennywise holding the only key. 

Maybe that was the reason so much rage and emotion had gone into throwing that fencepost. Or maybe, it was the figure floating a few feet into the air in front of him. He had a sudden flashback to only about an hour ago. 

_ His eyes had been wedged open with terror upon seeing Richie attacked by that fucking spider. He wanted to help,  _ he wanted to, he did. _ He knew he needed to do something, but even as Bill shouted at him to do just that,  _ he couldn’t. __

_ He couldn’t do anything, white hot fear had rooted him to the ground where he was. He pressed himself tightly to the wall, wishing he could just be pulled in, pulled away from the scene in front of him. Everything was moving too fast and he couldn’t catch up. The horror grappled him and froze him up. He screamed at himself in his mind to do something, to do anything, but he couldn’t.  _

_ When they had finally pulled the thing off of Richie, Bill was upon Eddie, yelling in his face. The fear was still in Eddie’s mind. This wasn’t the worst it would get, not even close. If he froze up here, how much help could he possibly be when it actually comes to defeating this thing?  _ What could he possibly do to help them?

_ “...-You want Richie too?!” He could only half process the words coming out of Bill’s mouth through the wall of fear being built between him and the real world. He had heard enough to know what his answer was though, but he still couldn’t get it out of his mouth.  _

_ He helpless shook his head, trying to find something to say, maybe explain, maybe apologize. No, apologies are no good here, if Richie had died, an apology would have been  _ nothing. __

_ “I-... I was scared… I was just scared…” He mumbled out, as if that was any justification for what he hadn’t done. But he watched as Bill’s expression softened slightly, maybe he had seen the scared little kid Eddie once was, the one that needed comfort in times like this. _

_ “That’s what it wants.” Bill had said, letting go of Eddie.  _

_ That’s what it wants… _

It wants fear, it needs fear. Eddie gripped the fencepost harder in his hand. 

“It kills monsters… If you believe it does,” He says quietly to himself.  _ If you believe it does. _ That’s what happened with Bill and the gun, all those years ago, right? There was no bullet in that gun, until Bill had taken his shot, then suddenly, it was loaded. Bill believed, and there was a way. That’s it’s weakness, isn’t it? It brings to life their fears, gives them their most dreaded things, but it has to go both ways, doesn’t it? If he knows they’re afraid, their fears come to life, but if they aren’t afraid, if they believe they can win, they can.  _ That’s it’s weakness.  _

“If you believe it does…” He had taken a running throw, putting all of his emotion, all of his fear, all of his bravery and everything else into that fencepost, and aiming it at the thing, hoping to any god out there that he didn’t accidentally hit Richie by mistake. 

After a few frozen seconds of time in which the fencepost was flying through the air like a spear, Richie was being dropped to the ground. Eddie was frozen with something that wasn’t entirely fear this time. _He had hit it_. As soon as Eddie was able to move again, he started running towards him. Adrenaline was coursing through his veins as he made his way down. _Had he done it?_ _Had they won?_

Deep down, a twisting feeling was making itself known in his gut.  _ It couldn’t be that easy, could it? There’s no way. _ He ignored that feeling with everything he had. If he believed he had done it, he could do it. 

“Richie! Hey man, wake up,” He didn’t even bother looking behind himself as he kneeled down in front of Richie, lightly hitting his face to try and awake him from the trance he had been in. 

The fleeting thought went through his mind of a young Ben kissing a young Beverly out of the deadlights. It occurred to him that maybe that’s how this was done, he only had a second to think about it though because then Richie was gasping awake. Eddie didn’t have time to think about whether he was relieved or disappointed.

“...Eddie?” He said, sounding almost sleepy. Eddie smiled happily down at him. 

“I think I did it this time, Richie!” He yelled over the noise of It trying to regain itself behind him. Maybe if he paid more attention, he could have gotten out of the way. Richie started to say something, his eyes wide with horror, pure fear and sorrow gripping his expression. Eddie didn’t ever want to see that face on him again. 

“I think I killed it for rea-” And suddenly, everything came to a screeching halt. He tasted it before he felt it, the sharp metallic taste of blood in his mouth, since his mouth was already open, some had spilled onto Richie. 

He heard Beverly scream loudly behind him, everything was so loud in that moment, he couldn’t focus on any one thing to listen to. 

The pain finally caught up to him when he looked down. The end of a hooked claw was protruding from his chest. He didn’t know how to react, it had all happened so fast. He couldn’t do anything. There was only one thing that he knew was real in that very moment, the only thought he could hold onto as most of his hope disappeared. That thing was the quivering, frozen-with-fear body beneath him.

“Richie…” He got out, before he started moving.

Along with the pain, he was also aware of the numbness of his lower body. He couldn’t move his legs. He wasn’t kneeling above Richie anymore, he was being held up by the claw.

As he was pulled backwards, the faint sound of Richie yelling his name had registered in his mind. Suddenly he was being flung through the air, taken away from Richie. Everything was a whir of quickly moving blurs and screams from his friends before he heard a sickening crunch as he was thrown into a hole in the wall.

He was only slightly aware of the pain in his arm as it definitely had just been snapped against the rocks. Then, another flashback of long forgotten memory made itself known in his mind. 

_ Everything was overwhelming. He couldn’t scream, he wanted to scream. His arm was exploding with pain, anytime he moved it, it sent a horrible jolt through his body. But he was forced to move, forced to push himself back against the wall as far as he could, desperately trying to get away from It. The creature danced towards him as if it was all some silly game.  _

_ Eddie almost would have found it ridiculous and funny had he not been gripped with the overwhelming fear of death, fear of what this thing would do to him.  _

_ Even though the chances were low, he had the thought in the back of his mind, of someone bursting through the door, coming to his rescue before this thing could lay a hand on him. That small candle of hope was quickly snuffed out when the thing reached him, laughing at him, mocking his fear, even alongside his petrified horror at the thing, he felt white hot rage.  _

_ It was laughing at him, laughing at him for being scared. He couldn’t help it if he froze up at fear, couldn’t help it if his mother had spent his whole life teaching him that he was weak and helpless. He was sick, he was weak. Fear meant he was in danger, fear meant if he didn’t get help, he would die. Fear made him freeze because he was taught that if you’re afraid it’s because someone needs to help you.  _

_ It was clear to Eddie in that moment that help wasn’t coming, he was completely helpless and needed to do something, but couldn’t do anything. The rage overpowered his thinking in that moment and he lashed out at the clown face, smacking it and hitting it as hard as he could. It didn’t like that, grabbing his hand and mocking him even more.  _

_ As much as he hated himself for it, tears streamed down his face and sobs wracked his body, making it hard to breathe.  _

_ He was going to die. He was going to die here. There was nothing he could do, he was so weak and no one was going to rescue him. He was weak and this thing knew it. It knew he was weak, and it showed him just how weak he was, grabbing his face and ridiculing him.  _

_ He couldn’t move his hands. He wanted so desperately to reach for his inhaler. He couldn’t breath, his throat was constricting itself with despair and fear.  _

_ Seeming to sense his distress, the thing grabbed his throat, still laughing. It started to squeeze, cutting off Eddie’s air.  _

_ Death by suffocation is quite possibly one of Eddie’s worst fears. In those moments before he pulls his inhaler out at times, he feels useless, he’s so dependant on oxygen and yet his body isn’t giving it to him easily, with the things hand cutting off his airway, he could only cry harder. _

_ The thing bared its teeth at him and the thought was overwhelming; He wasn’t going to make it out of here alive. He probably wasn’t even going to make it out of here dead. His body would rot in this place that caused him so much pain.  _

_ He’d die exactly how he’d always lived; weak, helpless, full of fear and dependency. Somehow over everything that’s happening in this moment, that thought was the one that made his stomach flip the most, made him want to vomit and cry even harder.  _

_ His body would stay in the neibolt house, he’d never be found, just like those other kids. His missing poster would go around the town for a few weeks maybe, before people forgot even him. The losers would move on, replace him with someone else, someone stronger.  _

_ His body would be used as a puppet for Pennywise in the future, using him to strike fear into more kids, using him to hurt people.  _

_ And he can’t do anything about it, he would die here, never get out, the other losers would be forced to leave him because they needed to get out before the clown got them too.  _

_ Eddie was going to die. His body would rot in this place, alone.  _

_ But then suddenly, there was the sound of a door slamming open. Taking this moment as the only thing it could be; A last minute saving grace, Eddie yelled. Ignoring the burning pain in his lungs, throat, and arm, he yelled as loud as he could, as if saying ‘Hey guys, I’m here, I’m not okay, please help!’. His heart thudded in his chest when Pennywise slipped his gloved hand over Eddie’s mouth, silencing him.  _

_ The thing that made his racing heart stop was a voice calling out from somewhere close; _

_ “Eddie?!” Richie. He was here. He was here and he’d save him. They’d be okay, Eddie would be saved and they’d all be okay. They would leave this place and never come back, and they’d all be happy. Alive, and happy.  _

_ The door flew open and Pennywise jerked It’s head around at the sound of not one, but two of Eddie’s friends bursting in. _

_ The two boys froze in their tracks upon seeing Pennywise draped over their friend against the wall. Eddie could see the fear in their eyes, he could see the fear in Richie’s eyes, and he wanted it to go away.  _

_ He wanted to yell ‘Hey Richie! I’m okay, It’s going to be okay!’ But he couldn’t. It wasn’t okay.  _ He _ wasn’t okay. He had an obviously broken arm and was about twenty seconds from death before the two other boys came. It really wasn’t okay.  _

_ Eddie just focused on regaining his breath now that Pennywise’s attention was off of him. The clown started to taunt Bill now, bringing up Georgie. Eddie wanted to lash out again, wanted to make Pennywise shut up and stop hurting his friends, but he didn’t, he couldn’t. He couldn’t do anything.  _

_ Eddie felt another scream echo out of his chest as Pennywise suddenly stood up and surged toward Bill and Richie. The scream could have vaguely sounded like a split ‘No!’ but Eddie wasn’t focused enough on that to actually hear what came out, only that he realized right now that if he could choose having that clown stand over him again, over watching it move towards his friends, he would choose that. He wished desperately but he didn’t have the choice.  _

_ He had to watch in horror as both of his friends yelled in fear, having no time to move out of the way.  _

_ And suddenly, Pennywise went silent. There was a sickening noise and Eddie looked up to see Beverly standing next to the thing, having stabbed it through the face.  _

_ Eddie now wanted desperately to hug Beverly. He realized in that moment that it was no longer a matter of saving themselves, it was a matter of saving each other. And Beverly, who he’d known for less than a week, had just saved the lives of two of the most important people in his life.  _

_ The thing turned to face them as the others ran over to where Eddie was propped against the wall. Eddie could hear Beverly sob as she saw that whatever she had used to stab his face, had gone all the way through, but it hadn’t killed the thing. It wasn't over. _

_ It started stalking towards them as one of it’s gloved hands morphed into terrifying claws. Eddie started to yell and sob again, because it was apparent that they couldn’t kill this thing. It would kill them and Eddie couldn’t do anything about it.  _

_ “Eddie! Eddie, look at me!” He could hear Richie yell beside him, grabbing onto his face and trying to turn his head towards him. Eddie had no idea what he was trying to accomplish, but his efforts were lost, Eddie couldn’t tear his eyes away from the thing making its way towards them.  _

_ “Eddie, please! Just look at me!” He could hear the fear and despair in Richie’s voice. When he finally turned his head to Richie, he could see tears coming from his eyes, wide with horror.  _

_ He could also see Beverly grabbing onto the back of Richie’s shirt, trying to pull him away to safety.  _

_ Yet Richie was still holding Eddie’s face, not letting go, trying to distract him from the horror in front of them. _

_ The thing screeched at them and Beverly took a fearful step back, dodging it. It instead, took its aim on Ben, slashing at his abdomen with its clawed hand. Eddie quickly hoped to god that Ben was okay, being surprised at himself for caring about this kid. They’d barely known him a few days but Eddie was so fearful for him.  _

_ The thing then, without hurting anyone else, took a bow, and fled the room. He faintly heard someone say ‘Don’t let it get away.’ and Bill was walking away, chasing after it. The dumb bastard. If he let that thing leave, they could all get out, they could live and leave and never come back. He yelled after Bill, not really making any coherent words but yelling nonetheless.  _

_ “Bill!” He heard himself then yell, and suddenly Bill was running back to them, quickly kneeling down beside Beverly while Richie was on the other side of him.  _

_ It suddenly became apparent to Eddie that Richie was trying to take hold of his injured arm. Sudden fear over what could happen took hold of him. _

_ “Don’t touch me! Do not fucking touch me!” He yelled at Richie desperately, but it seemed to have no effect on him. Richie muttered out a slight apology as his hands took hold of his arm and there was a sickening crunch in pain flooded through him, making him scream again.  _

_ He could hear Beverly and Bill shouting at Richie to stop but it had been done. It then became apparent to Eddie that actually, Richie had done the right thing in that moment. Even though they were all scared, Richie took control and helped Eddie. Eddie didn’t have any time to think about how grateful he was because then Stan, Mike, and Ben were with them and they were rushing outside.  _

It was kind of funny now, actually. He had been so scared of dying in that house as a kid and now, almost thirty years later, he finally would. His worst fear as a kid had actually come to life, he was going to die here. 

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


All of the pain had molded together, becoming everything he knew. It was all pain, and it was  _ unbearable _ . 

As much as he tried, fighting through the agony, he still couldn’t move his legs, couldn’t feel them, it suddenly became apparent to him that he couldn’t feel anything lower than his ribs. 

The realization came to his mind completely unwelcomed; The claw had gone directly through his spine. If he got out of here, he would be permanently paralized. 

He wouldn’t though. He wouldn’t get out of here. He tried to think positive, tried to look on the brightside, but there really was none. Eddie had always been a pessimist. As a kid, and as an adult, he had always seen the glass half empty. That didn’t change now. 

He wasn’t so sure he wanted to get out of here. 

Even if he did somehow survive, he’d be in the hospital for so long after from all his wounds. He  _ hated _ hospitals. He’d always hated them, ever since he was a kid. After he had forgotten Derry and everything inside, he always correlated his hatred about the places to the amount of people, the amount of illnesses he could contract. Now he knew better. Now he remembered being dragged to the hospital no less than five times a month, how he never questioned it. 

He never even questioned it. She had told him he was sick. She told him he was weak and vulnerable. He never learned how to take care of himself because she had always taught him that he couldn’t, that he needed someone else to do it for him. 

Now that he’s thinking about it, he seemed to follow what she said. He had married Myra because she took care of him, she knew what was best.  _ Just like his mother _ . Holy shit, he had married his mother. 

The thought quickly fled from his mind when he realized a few other things.  _ If _ he survived, and that’s a big if, he would be paralyzed. He really would be dependent. He wouldn’t be able to walk, wouldn’t be able to  _ run _ . He had never been allowed to run as a kid, always being told his asthma would act up. He had always been told it wasn’t safe. 

So when he moved away, of course he took up running, he didn’t have the best stamina at first, after not being able to have run more than a mile for his whole childhood, but he was fast. He started track at the university he attended, even won a few meets. Then when he graduated and married, Myra didn’t like the running, said it wasn’t good for him. 

He still ran though, he got up a few hours early for work every day and ran anyway, he knew he should listen to Myra, but he couldn’t stop himself.

He would never run again. 

The thoughts were pushed from his mind as his friends were now at his side, kneeling over him, Beverly was crying. 

“Be careful- Be careful!” He heard someone urge and then he was being rolled onto his back against the rocks. When he was propped up against the wall, there was a stunning silence between them all. 

Eddie looked down to see that there was a massive fucking hole in his chest. How the fuck was he still alive? He was vaguely aware of Pennywise now ripping at the rocks at the mouth of the cave, trying to reach them. 

Everyone was scared. Eddie could see on their faces that they realized they wouldn’t all be getting out of here alive. He looked to Richie only to see him shedding off his jacket. The dumbass, it’s freezing down here. 

But Eddie was surprised when Richie then pressed the jacket to his chest. It wasn’t like it would do any good. Most of the external damage would have been at the back anyway. And he was mostly sure at least a few internal organs were damaged, the jacket would do no good. Still, he clutched onto it as hard as he could. 

“He’s hurt really bad-.. We-we gotta get him out of here-” He could hear Richie saying above him, he just groaned helplessly at the pain of the jacket being pressed against his open wound. 

He heard Beverly arguing with Richie. Eddie wanted to be mad at her, he wanted to be angry that she had no hope for him. But she was right, there was no way he was getting out of here. 

That stupid thing had taken everything from him. Emotions washed over him but so did the realization he had earlier, he was trying to figure out how to explain it to all of them before it was too late. He tried to tell them his weakness, tried to tell them they had to be fearless, but instead what came out of his mouth was what he had done when he encountered the leper. It seemed to work though, because Mike’s eyebrows shot up and he started talking. 

“...All living things must abide by the laws of the shape they inhabit!” Everyone seemed to understand but Mike was then cut off by Ben reappearing. 

“Guys! There’s a passageway. Through here.” Beverly then started explaining how they could beat it and make it out, but Eddie just stared at Richie. Eddie wouldn’t get out of here, it was clear, he wasn’t leaving. 

His mind vaguely registered Ben, Beverly, and Mike leaving while Bill and Richie leaned him down, Bill taking a few steps back but Richie staying with him the whole time. If Eddie wasn’t going to get out of here. He was going to make sure Richie did. He wanted so,  _ so _ badly, to say something nice to Richie, to tell Richie he was a good friend, to tell him everything would be okay, but he couldn’t. 

He knows Richie, and if Eddie said something nice right now, there’s no way Richie would leave without him, so he had to say something meaningless, but familiar, because if he didn’t say something, he’d never forgive himself. 

“Richie, hey… I gotta tell you something…” He trailed off, coughing up a bit of blood. Richie looked on the verge of tears, and it killed Eddie. Without thinking any longer, he just spoke, much like Richie would have done when they were kids. Eddie never told Richie how he actually appreciated how much Richie talked. He never told him he appreciated him. 

“I fucked you mom.” It was the words that fell from his mouth. Eddie chuckled a little, flinching at how much it hurt. He then looked up and saw that Richie no longer held the tears, he was crying. Richie was crying and Eddie couldn’t make it better. It was torture. 

“Eddie…” He croaked out, sobbing. Eddie could feel his mind getting weaker, wanting to fall asleep. 

Richie seemed to sense this, because he lightly slapped Eddie’s face. 

“Hey, Eds… come on man, stay with me, I love you.” Richie said desperately. Eddie shook his head. 

“Don’t- We’re fucking fourty, don’t call me that…” After a few seconds he decided to add on. “I love you too man, I love all of you guys…” Richie quickly shook his head as well. 

“Hey- No, don’t-.. Don’t say that like you’re gonna die. You’re not gonna  _ fucking _ die.” Eddie just closed his eyes, leaning into Richie. Despite the pain, he felt so comfortable there, felt so sleepy… 

He could hear the others yelling at the clown, evidently following through with their plan. 

“Sorry about this.” He heard Richie say. Eddie opened his eyes just in time to see Richie Turn towards Pennywise. 

“A dumb fucking  _ clown _ !” He yelled loudly, Eddie winced at the volume, which led to Richie turning back around and apologizing again, over and over. He continued to hear the shouts for a while, letting them lull him into more comforting numbness in his mind. 

Richie looked over to the others again before looking back down at Eddie. 

“Eddie, hey, I gotta-.. I gotta go help them. Will you be okay here?” He asked hesitantly. Eddie just gave a slight nod and hummed in confirmation. Richie squeezed his shoulder comfortingly one last time before rushing off towards the others. 

Eddie watched his fleeing form as the white started to surround his vision. It hurt to see, so he closed his eyes, and when his eyes fell shut, he finally let himself drift. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter two will be posted tomorrow, hope you like it! Make sure to leave kudos and comments, I love feedback!


	2. We just deserve a happy ending, please.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eddie faces some harsh and unexpected realities.
> 
> Warnings: Detailed gore descriptions, Death, Implied sexual content

It was dark, and quiet, really quiet, and really peaceful. Eddie didn’t want to open his eyes ever again. All sense over what happened was covered in a haze of peace and sleepiness. The haze was quickly interrupted by that sickening, all too familiar laugh. 

Eddie snapped his eyes open and became aware of his surroundings. The memories came flooding back when he realized where he was. 

He was still in the sewer, laying on the rocky ground. But there was no noise this time, in fact, it was eerily silent. Then, Eddie heard that sadistic chuckle again, coming from the entrance to the small tunnel he was in. 

Fighting against the gut feeling he had to just stay laying there on the ground, he pulled himself up. Upon not feeling pain, or much of anything, he looked down. 

Nope. It was still there. 

He still had a huge fucking hole in his chest, but the pain wasn’t there. There was blood everywhere but no more coming from the wound and- holy fuck is that his  _ heart _ -?! 

Yeah, yup, that was definitely his heart he was seeing. It was exposed in the pulpy mess that was his upper torso, not beating though. It sat there, utterly still. It made him sick. 

He felt like vomiting but it didn’t happen. He was sick to his stomach but had no physical urge to throw up. Somehow, that made it even worse. 

Was he dead? Well, obviously he was dead, his heart was sitting still in his chest, he felt no pain, and he’s pretty sure he hasn’t been breathing. 

But if he’s dead, why is he here? Suddenly his empty veins felt like they were filled with ice as a realization dawned on him. 

Is this it? Is this his fate? To spend eternity stuck in this fucking place. This place took his whole life from him before it actually took his life away. This place was where all of his worst nightmares came true, where he was taunted for having fear, preyed on because he was easy to prey on. Now he was stuck here. 

He heard that laugh again and was filled with rage. There was no way he was letting this happen without a fight. He stood all the way up and made his way to the mouth of the tunnel. 

When he was out of the tunnel, he saw the open space where they had been fighting Pennywise, only now, everyone was gone. He walked out towards the center to see Pennywise himself standing in the middle of the spikes in the middle. 

Eddie’s eyes widened in fear when he realized the thing was looking directly at him. 

But Eddie couldn’t make himself stop walking, it was almost as if something else was making his legs move without his permission, as terrified as he was, he didn’t stop walking until he was standing right in front of it. 

It grinned at him, chuckling darkly.

“Hiya, Eddie!” It said cheerfully, in that evil voice it had. Eddie narrowed his eyes and stared at it, trying not to show his fear. The clown seemed to sense his struggle. The thing still filled Eddie with terror, but there was something different… 

All of the fear Eddie felt stayed inside him, he didn’t feel the clown pulling at his brain as it always did when they came into contact. The clown also seemed different itself. It was still grinning wickedly, but there was something different about his appearance Eddie couldn’t place, until he looked the thing in the eyes. 

Instead of their usual glowing golden color, the things eyes were a dull blue color, almost grey. They had no malicious glow to them, no power. He didn’t have time to focus on it though, because then the clown was speaking again.

“Oh, don’t you worry about me. I was just getting on my way!” Suddenly there was a red balloon in Its hand. Physically, there’s no way that that thing could have been able to lift a creature like pennywise, and yet, next thing Eddie knew, the clown was floating away.

The sudden thought occured to Eddie that he was letting his whole goal just float away. 

“Hey- wait-... Get back here!” He felt silly yelling at the thing, but there wasn’t much else he could do, and he couldn’t just let it get away, they were supposed to kill it, they had to. 

He quickly jumped as high as he could and reached up. 

He  _ saw _ it. He knows he saw his hand reach the thing’s shoe. He had touched it, except, not really. His hand went through it and he fell back down onto his feet, slightly stumbling from the shock. 

While he was wondering if it was him that went through Pennywise, or Pennywise that went through him, he felt another presence, eyes. 

He quickly whipped around to face behind him, Pennywise having disappeared into the darkness above him. 

There was nothing there, it was still silent around him, dark, silent, and empty space, but he could  _ feel _ something. 

Yet there was nothing, it was still just him. He pressed his hand to his eyes, pushing hard and sighing loudly. He could feel some of the blood on his hands rub off onto his face, but he couldn’t find it in himself to care. 

It’s weird, at least some of the blood should be dried by now, but none was, it was all wet still, not warm though, sort of cold, as if it had been left out of a body for a while. He looked down at the hole in his body again, still feeling a bit queasy from looking at it. 

There was  _ so much blood _ . It looked like something from one of those overly gory horror movies he had seen as a child. Except it was  _ real _ , and it was  _ him. _ His heart was on full display, though it was still, and felt cold, as if it had been dormant for a while. 

He then remembered a very important piece of his injury, his spine. It was clearly still separated, but there was no numbness in his legs, and he could walk just fine. He hadn’t thought about it when he first stood up, but now that he noticed it, there’s no way his legs should be useful right now, but somehow there was no pain, no numbness, he felt, for lack of better words,  _ normal. _

**_Are you ready yet?_ **

Okay, what the fuck. What was that? It sounded like a voice, talking to him, but there was no actual sound, just a knowing that he was being spoken to. The voice, the  _ feeling _ he got, was almost identical to that of what he felt when listening to Pennywise. Not in the sense that it filled him with fear though, no, this voice was very calming, lulling him back into comfort. 

But when he heard it, he felt like he recognized it, even though he’s pretty sure he’s never heard it before. He shivered a little and took a step back towards the center of the huge cavern. 

**_Eddie, are you ready?_ **

Eddie furrowed his eyebrows, trying to place where he knew the voice from, but knowing he couldn’t.

“Ready for what?” He said loud enough that  _ whatever _ was speaking to him could hear him. For some reason, he didn’t ask what it was, or how it knew them, or where he was or  _ what the hell was happening _ , though he wanted to desperately. 

**_You are aware of what._ **

Really? Because Eddie has no idea what he’s supposed to be ready for, he contemplates it though. Ready… Ready… _ Oh. _

“Ready to-...” He couldn’t get the words out.  _ Ready to die. _ Was he ready to die?

The thing somehow knew what he had thought, because it was soon speaking again. 

**_No, Eddie. Death isn’t something that waits for you to be ready._ ** Eddie thought about that and yeah, the thing was about right. 

**_Eddie, you’re already there. What I’m asking is, are you ready to work yourself to the point that you can get out?_ **

The thought that he was actually  _ dead _ was pretty jarring, though he guesses that’s the most reasonable explanation he’ll get for what’s going on. But  _ get out? _ He can get out? Is that possible?

**_Eddie, you might not yet be aware of it, but what you and your friends did was greatly important. The thing that you faced was my counterpart, that had gone rogue. Every twenty-seven years that goes by, the weaker I grew. You and your friends finally overthrew It, and for that, I am in debt to you. So I have decided to give you another chance._ **

Another chance? Holy shit, fucking shit. Is he going to live? Also, what the fuck? They somehow defeated some all powerful creature on their own? That’s pretty cool. Wait. 

“So, they did it, then?” He could feel joy coming from the being speaking to him. How he  _ felt _ its emotions, he has no idea.

**_You all did it. Mike might have been the one that did all the research, but somehow you were the one that figured it out._ **

He figured it out. Hell yeah he did. He had figured out how to use the things power against it, he had figured out how to defeat the thing and he hadn’t even lived to see it. 

“Where- where are they? What happened to them?” He asked hesitantly, feeling better but still wanting answers. There was silence for a few seconds.

**_Open your eyes, Eddie._ **

He hadn’t realized they had been closed. He quickly snapped his eyes open and gasped. There they were. 

They were standing in a sort of semi-circle around what looked like the shriveled up body of It. And, Eddie had to admit, it looked kind of hilarious. But none of them were laughing. 

They all had grim expressions. Frozen expressions. They weren’t moving. Everything was frozen in time, except Eddie. 

“What’s going on?” He asked the thing. Now feeling the sense that it wasn’t going to be easy. He now remembered the thing saying something about working to get back.

**_Eddie, I can’t just let you back._ ** Eddie’s hope started to quickly drain out of him and his mouth set into the hard line. What was going to happen? What was he going to have to do?

“What do you mean you can’t? You said you would!” Eddie felt anger and fear building up again, but then as soon as the thing started speaking it started receding, the calmness of its voice reaching him whether he liked it or not. 

**_You must understand, my reward for helping me is greater than just letting you back._ ** Confusion filled Eddie at that. 

**_I won’t allow you to mistake this as a second chance for the life you have. This is a second chance for the life you missed out on, the life you could have had. This is a chance for you to learn what you could have, and a chance for you to have that. But in order to get that, you must first observe. Understand what you must do._ **

The life he missed out on? The life he had? Does he mean Myra? His job? His constant state of tired submission? 

It might not be the best, but it’s safe. But if this thing thinks there's something better out there for him, he didn’t really have any choice but to listen.

“Okay, what do I have to do?” He said hesitantly to the voice. 

**_I’m surprised you complied so easily._ ** The thing said. Eddie just shrugged. 

“It’s not like I have much of a choice.” Eddie said, sounding defeated. 

**_Oh Eddie, that’s where you’re wrong. You have the choice, you really do. I have no control over what you decide to do when you get out of here, but I won’t let you do anything before first showing you what is going to happen._ **

“Then what’s going to happen?” Eddie asked the thing, frustrated that it didn’t answer his question.

**_First, I must let you observe what is currently happening. When you feel you’ve seen enough, I will show you what you could have had. After that, you just need to figure out how to pass over, then, you’re free._ **

“It’s that easy?” Eddie asked, fearful for what would happen.

**_It’s not as easy as you might think._ **

What do you mean-?” Eddie was cut off by the voice.

**_Are you ready?_ ** It asked once more. Eddie decided that, yeah, he was. He nodded, hoping the thing could see him. He assumed it could, because then, there was no more silence. The sounds of It’s layer start again, and when he looked back at the group, they were moving again. 

It was then that Eddie noticed all of their hands were joined together, and when they pulled them apart, something that looked vaguely blood-like, started floating upwards. Then, some of them started to smile. 

Bill grabbed onto Mike and pressed their foreheads together, they were both crying. Beverly pressed her face into Richie’s side, hugging him, sobbing herself. 

When Eddie looked at Richie’s face, he just looked stunned. There were dry tears on his face and his hair was matted to his forehead with sweat. He looked scared, but relieved. It made Eddie happy that they were all okay. 

Then he remembered, ‘Oh yeah, I’m here too’ and he quickly smiled and shouted at them, walking closer. 

“Guys! You did it! We did it!” He yelled happily, but the smile fell from his face when they didn’t acknowledge him. Oh no.

“Guys?” He said fearfully, putting his hand out to rest it on Richie’s shoulder, only for it to go through, causing Eddie to stumble over, eyes wide. 

**_They can’t see you. I told you, you must observe._ ** The thing, who he had almost forgotten about, spoke up, before the presence was gone again. 

Eddie saw Richie’s eyes widen, and for a second he thought maybe he had heard them, but then he was pulling away from Beverly, and sprinting away from the group, it wasn’t long before the others seemed to realize what he was doing and followed him. 

Eddie decided to follow too, running to catch up with them, only to find that their destination was something he wasn’t ready to see. 

It was  _ him _ . But it wasn’t. His eyes were closed and he was  _ dead. _ Holy shit he was actually dead and that’s his body. This is actually happening. 

“Eddie, hey, wake up, we did it!” He heard Richie explain softly, and Eddie’s heart fell. Richie’s smile fell away from his face when he saw Eddie didn’t wake up. 

“Eddie…” Richie had his hand on Eddie’s face, feeling the coldness. He stroked his hand down Eddie’s cheek comfortingly, it was heartbreaking. There was a few seconds of silence and he heard sniffles from the group. Beverly was the first to speak. 

“Richie-” Bill then took over when Beverly couldn’t get the words out. 

“He’s gone…” Bill said gently, Richie then snapped around to them, he looked panicked. 

“He’s alright, no, he’s just hurt! We gotta get him out of here, he’s hurt.” Richie looked around the group, trying to find someone to agree with him. 

“Ben?” Richie’s eyes were pleading. Eddie could hear rocks falling and he saw Bill look back as a wall started crumbling. The place was coming down.

“He’s okay, we gotta get him outta here, Bev?” His voice sounded wrecked and delirious. It hurt Eddie so much, but they needed to get out of there. He was already dead, he didn’t want the rest of them to end up like that too.

“Richie…” He heard Beverly sniffle out. Richie’s head dropped and he closed his eyes, Eddie could see a few tears fall and he adopted a look of defeat. He looked back at Beverly. 

“What?” He said fearfully, seeming to not want to hear the truth. Eddie wanted him to just be happy, he wanted him to be safe. 

“Honey..He’s dead…” Eddie didn’t really realize the severity of the situation until Bev said it. 

Yeah, he was dead. He’s dead, that’s his body in Richie’s arms. His lifeless, cold body. And if the rest of them didn’t get out of here, they would be too. He doesn’t know if he could bear to see that. 

Richie let out a sob and looked back down at Eddie’s corpse. 

Beverly urged Richie that they had to leave and Eddie loved her even more for that, for having the sense to see that if they didn’t leave, they would end up in the same state Eddie’s in. Seeming to accept it but not wanting to. Eddie watched as Richie pulled his lifeless body closer and hugged it, burying his face in his neck as the rest of the group tried to pull him away. 

“Let go man, you have to let him go!” They had to let him go. They had to let Eddie go. He was dead now and they had to let him go. Richie sobbed, not letting go of Eddie’s body.

“We can still help him guys! We can still help him!” The despair and anguish were present in his voice and it broke Eddie. Eddie started to cry himself, though no tears came out, it hurt so much to watch Richie in so much pain. 

Eddie watched in silent tears as the group dragged Richie away. Richie was still sobbing and babbling about Eddie and the cavern was crumbling around them. 

Eddie watched in grief as his own body lay still amidst the crumbling rocks. This would be his grave, a dirty, cold, cavern in the sewers. They were leaving him here and this is where he would rot. It was too much and Eddie forced himself to look away, instead, following the group as they made their way out. 

Richie was still yelling Eddie’s name as they were making their way back through the sewer. It kind of stumped Eddie. All of them were devastated, it was clear. But for some reason, Richie was acting like he had just lost a part of himself. It hurt so much to watch but it still confused Eddie. Why was Richie acting more crushed than the rest of them?

As they were running through the water of the sewers, Eddie felt himself trip over a fallen rock, but felt no pain, he almost wishes he could have felt that, wishes he could have felt the simple pain of kicking a rock, but there was nothing. So he just continued to run after the group. 

He watched them all run out of the doorway of the neibolt house, and when Eddie made his own way out, he was met with a cloud of dust falling on top of him, but it just went through him, not seeming to bother. 

When they were all safely standing on the road, the house started to finally collapse. 

Richie started yelling again, and Ben and Mike had to grab onto him to keep him from running back into the house.

“He’s still in there guys we gotta get in there, we gotta get him out!” Eddie let out dry sobs at the sound of Richie’s voice, everything started to blur and Eddie set his arm against Richie’s chest, pushing him backwards. 

Richie’s eyes widened, seeming to feel him there, and Eddie would have felt surprised and maybe victorious at the fact that he managed to touch him, but they still seemed to not see him. 

Everything started to get echoed and blurry, and soon Eddie was falling asleep.

**_Seems you’re figuring it out faster than I thought._ ** Eddie heard the creature, feeling it’s presence once again. When Eddie opened his eyes and looked around, his surroundings quickly became familiar, he was at the quarry. 

“Why are we here?” He asked quietly, hearing the despair still evident in his voice. 

**_You must keep observing, there are still some things you must see._ ** Eddie had no time to argue because then, everything was unfreezing again, the trees started rustling and he could hear birds and animals in the trees beside him. 

He then heard footsteps behind him and turned around to see the group walking towards him. Eddie gasped when he finally got a good look at them. The all looked absolutely wrecked, covered in dirt and blood, and  _ god knows what _ from the sewers. Their hair was matted to their foreheads in sweat and Richie’s glasses were cracked, blood caking the cracks.  _ His blood. _

They all leaned over the railing, looking at the water below, then Eddie realized why they were here in the first place. They exchanged glances before climbing over and starting to take off their overclothes and shoes.

Richie was looking at the ground when Eddie saw him, his mouth still hanging slightly open, his eyes looked empty, void of any happiness, it hurt so much. 

Just like when they were kids, Beverly was the first to jump, her arms and legs flailing as she plummeted towards the water below. The thought flashed through Eddie’s mind of what w0uld happen if she hit the water wrong, or if she hit her head on a rock on the way down. After all that happened, what if one of them died now? But none of them did. 

All of them got into the water safely so Eddie decided to jump himself. It was almost fun for a few seconds but he never really hit the water, just passed threw it, no splash, no nothing. When he was under water, it didn’t feel like it either, there was no lack of breathing. Well, there was a lack of breathing, but that’s because he didn’t need to breathe anymore. He would never get used to this.

All thoughts aside, he swam his way back up to the surface, and followed the group when they made their way into more shallow water.

They all started to clean themselves off in the dirty water, which seemed counter-productive to Eddie but he supposes they get a pass, they just all almost died. 

He watched Richie wipe his glasses off and winced as Richie let his eyes focus on the blood in the cracks. It was Eddie’s blood. Richie then gave up on cleaning his glasses, staring down at them in wonder. Then suddenly, Ben was talking. 

“You know what?” Everyone turned to look at him, Eddie included. 

“Eddie would have hated this, guys.” It shocked Eddie that they were talking about him, even though he had just died. But it sort of touched him. 

“What? Cleaning ourselves in dirty water?” Bill said, a corner of his mouth twitching into a smile. He’s not wrong, Eddie doesn’t necessarily love the idea.

Beverly said something to make fun of Eddie, but it was affectionately, they were all smiling now, except Richie, who was uncharacteristically silent. 

“Yeah.” Mike said, smiling softly. “But he would have made us laugh, though.” They all agreed with him. It surprised Eddie that they actually enjoyed him, which shouldn’t be that surprising since they were his friends, but he always thought he irritated them. 

“He’d be looking out for us… The way he always was.” WHen Bill said that, their smiles vanished, morphing into expressions of sadness. 

“Isn’t that right Richie?” They all turned their attention to Richie, who had his head in his hands. 

Then Eddie heard it.The painful sound of Richie softly sobbing. The others heard it too because soon they were crowding him in a group hug. 

Eddie could do nothing but watch in pain as Richie cried into Mike’s shoulder as they all embraced in a sad agreement to comfort each other. 

After a while of silence and crying, Richie looked up, taking glances at all of his friends. He made a joke about his glasses, making everyone laugh before they realized he was serious, they then all started looking for the lost glasses in the water. Richie smiled to himself and it made Eddie smile too. But then things started to get blurry again. 

-

When Eddie felt awake again, he spoke before the thing got a chance to.

“I can’t do this anymore. It’s too much.” He said painfully, wanting to sob. 

**_I know._ ** The voice said in a way that was more comforting than it should have been.  **_But we aren’t done yet. You’re close, but there is one last thing you must see._ **

“What is it?” When Eddie got no answer after a short while, he opened his eyes, figuring out his surroundings. 

The carved wood and tire-warn dirt was familiar in a few seconds. The kissing bridge. Eddie hadn’t been there very much as a kid, only when he and his friends would walk around during the afternoon. He heard a car and decided to walk towards it. He saw Richie step out of a dark colored car, pulling a piece of paper out of his pocket. 

Eddie made his way over and peered over Richie’s shoulder. It was a letter. Eddie read it quickly before Richie could put it away and Eddie wanted to cry again. It was Stan. Eddie had almost completely forgotten about him. Stan had left a letter for them. 

After seeming to contemplate for a moment, Richie folded the letter and put it in his pocket, starting to make his way over to the bridge. He seemed to be making his way to a specific place on the bridge, Eddie realized, and he was confused until Richie bent down and pulled out a knife. 

Richie then started crying and Eddie looked over his shoulder. Upon seeing the carving, his heart dropped. It couldn’t be, right? It was just a coincidence. It couldn’t be him.

Richie dug his knife into the wood and started to re-carve the old, faded letters. When he was finished, he pulled back and took a look at his work.

R+E

This time, Eddie pulled himself out of the world, forcing the dizzy feeling to come, welcoming the sleepiness until he woke up again. 

-

“Was it me?” He asked the moment he felt awake. There was silence. A while later he heard his answer. 

**_It is._ ** Was all the thing said. Eddie didn’t fail to notice how it had switched was for is, making the sentence present-tense. 

“So he-” He cut himself off, not being able to say it, fearing he might start to cry. 

**_He loves you. He even told you, back in the cavern._ **

“Yeah but- I thought-... I just thought he meant like friends.” Eddie stuttered out.

**_He did. He meant like friends too. The thing is, Eddie, the way he feels towards you has many labels._ ** Eddie didn’t know how to feel.  **_And you feel many things for him as well, don’t you?_ **

“I- I d-...” He still didn’t know what to say. Then the realization hit him. 

“This is what you needed to show me.. Because…” Eddie trailed off before picking back up, The thing waited patiently. 

“Because you don’t want me to make the same mistake of going back to believing I need to be taken care of. You want me to do what I actually want to do, instead of what I think I want to do.” He could feel the things emotions showing again. Happiness, pride. 

**_You’re a lot smarter than you give yourself credit for, Eddie._ ** That sent another memory through Eddie’s head. 

_ “You’re braver than you think.” _

He had never thought of himself as brave before then. He always regarded himself as weak and helpless. But in that moment, he believed what Richie had said, he believed he was brave, and he was. Eddie smiled.

“Am I done then?” He said hopefully.

**_Not yet._ ** The voice said.  **_If you remember correctly, I must first show you what you’re missing, so you can get the idea of just how much happier you could truly be._ ** Wanting this whole thing to just be over, and being honestly curious over how good things could be, Eddie nodded.

“Okay.” He said. “I’m ready.” And he was. 

Then he was waking to the sound of an alarm beeping. He grumbled for a few seconds before remembering his situation and rolling onto his back. He stared up at the ceiling for a few minutes.

He could see sunlight streaming in through the blinds over the window. It was too bright and he closed his eyes again, grumbling at sticking his arms out to stretch them, only to accidentally smack the person laying beside him. 

He hadn’t noticed that the heat of the bed was body heat radiating off of another person cuddled against him. His eyes snapped open only to be met with a familiar face. At first he refused to believe it.

_ Oh god. _ He was in bed with Richie Tozier. Holy  _ fuck _ . Wait. 

He lifted the blankets slightly to take a glance underneath, feeling relieved when he saw he was wearing underwear and a large T-shirt at least. Richie on the other hand, was shirtless, but upon taking another quick glance, Eddie was happy to see he was wearing sweatpants. 

The sound of the alarm clock became apparent to Eddie so he followed the sound and found out it was his phone, on a bedside table. He reached over and plucked it up, looking at the time as he turned the alarm off. 

7:00 AM. A lot later than he usually woke up. He felt Richie stir next to him, humming sleepily, he turned over to face him, causing Richie to smile when he opened his eyes. Eddie should have been confused, and on edge, but all he felt was comfort in that moment. Eddie reminded himself that he’s not in any sort of danger. The voice had told him this is what he could have, so maybe this is just a glimpse into his future.

Does that mean that he’ll be with Richie in the future? Sharing a bed and body heat? 

“Hey.” Richie’s voice was thick and scratchy from sleep, leading him to sound sort of gruff. As much as he would hate to admit it to himself, Eddie didn’t hate it. It was kind of doing things to him honestly, things that left him feeling panicked, he had never felt like this before, so safe and loved and calm. 

Richie must have seen it on his face because he smirked, taking Eddie’s hand under the blanket. 

It was then that Eddie realized that him and Richie were probably  _ together _ together. That was quickly confirmed when Richie lifted Eddie’s hand up to his lips and kissed his knuckles, leading Eddie to notice a ring on his own finger. That was not his wedding ring to Myra. It didn’t even look like a wedding band at all, more of an engagement ring. 

_ Holy shit. Were they- _

His thoughts were cut off when Richie leaned in to press their lips together. Eddie’s eyes widened and he gasped, leading Richie to pull away, looking slightly worried. 

“Hey, what’s wrong?” Eddie didn’t say anything, though, he just shook his head. Richie had just kissed him. Then Eddie realized in horror,  _ he wanted him to do it again. _

“Did you have a nightmare? It’s alright, you know it’s okay, I’m right here.” The comforting tone in Richie’s voice was what finally broke Eddie.

He pushed himself forward and kissed Richie with more force than he meant to, chasing the warmth on his lips. He almost thought Richie was going to push him away as the other man let out a sharp breath, but then he felt Richie pull him closer by his hip,leaning over so he was half way on top of him, pressing his lips harder against Eddie’s. 

Eddie groaned, involuntarily, and opened his mouth into the kiss, feeling relieved when Richie accepted it, doing the same.

It felt so good to be able to hold him like this, without fear of not being good enough, without obligations, just  _ love _ . 

After a little while of the aggressive kissing, Richie was the one to pull away. 

“Okay, okay Eds, you better go get ready before you’re late for work again and blame it on me.” Eddie had never been late to work in his life, but for some reason, the knowledge of that made Eddie feel even happier. 

“I think I love it when you call me that.” Eddie said without thinking, quickly regretting it. Richie looked surprised for a second before smiling softly. Richie sat up, reaching over to his nightstand to pick up his glasses, pushing them on his face before looking back at Eddie. 

“I know, I think you told me that last night too, you were kind of out of it at the time though…” Richie’s smile turned into a smirk. “I was planning on reminding you you’d said it.” Biting his lip, Eddie contemplated asking about last night. He almost didn’t want to know, but he was curious. 

“When.. did I say that?” He said safely. Richie seemed to actually think about it for a second before answering. Eddie was not ready for the answer. 

“I think it was around the time you came, you were babbling, you do that a lot by the way, and it just slipped out I think. Don’t worry Eds, your secret’s safe with me.” Eddie felt hot all over just thinking about that. He did the only thing he could think of, He glared at Richie.

“Shut up.” Richie just laughed. 

“Well you asked.” He said in a sing-song voice as he turned and crawled out of bed, and at that moment, Eddie started to feel dizzy. He knew what the feeling meant, but he wasn’t ready.

“Wait, no-” He called out but it was too late. 

-

When he woke up, he was upset, almost mad at the thing for pulling him out. 

“No wait, please, put me back, I want to go back.” He said desperately. 

**_I’m sorry, Eddie, but you’ll get there, you need to do it on your own, but that’s what your future looks like. That is, if you choose to listen to my words and pursue what could be._ **

Eddie nodded frantically.

“I will-... I will, I’ll listen, but, how?” Eddie asked, desperate to get back to that place. 

**_Alright, listen to what I say. I’m going to put you with him. He’s at his home right now Eddie. It might still take some effort to truly get back to life, but you can do it._ **

Eddie nodded and waited for something to happen. 

“Wait, he’s home? How long have I been in this place?” He got no answer though, instead the world began to shift and he was standing behind the one and only, Richie Tozier. 

He didn’t look like how he had just a moment ago though. He was sad, his eyes were empty of emotions, empty of happiness, it killed Eddie to see him like this.    
  


They were standing in what seemed to be Richie’s bathroom. Richie was looking in the mirror longingly. Eddie looked in the mirror too, he could see Richie’s reflection, but not himself. 

“Richie…” Eddie said sadly. Eddie’s eyes widened as Richie glanced over his shoulder, seeming to hear the words. He’s almost there, he can do this, he can feel it, the little bit of pain in his chest. Reminded of his chest, he looked down. He was in his clothes from before, There was still a hole in the shirts, and the clothes were caked in blood and dirt, but he could see it clearly. His chest was there, but no hole, he was healed, there was however, a nasty looking scar spreading along the most part of his upper body. 

The scar looked years old though, it was light pink and completely healed over.  _ Thank you, great whatever the fuck you are. _

Richie put his face in his hands and exhaled loudly. 

“Fuck.” He said, sounding lost. It hurt Eddie to see him like this, hurt and lost, empty. 

With emotions overflowing, Eddie reached out and put his hand on Richie’s slumped shoulder. 

He felt Richie jump away from the touch instantly, Eddie looked at himself in the mirror, he could see himself. The wound on his cheek from Bowers’ knife was now just a pink scar as well. He looked exhausted, rings under his eyes and face still caked in grime from the sewers. 

In an instant, Richie whipped around bracing his hands against the countertop. 

When he saw him, Richie’s eyes got wider, and his mouth dropped open, tears already starting to track down his face.

“Eddie…?” Richie fell to his knees, sobbing. Eddie’s own eyes burned when he saw the state of the man. He knelt down next to him to comfort him, but Richie just pushed him away. 

“You’re not here, you aren’t real, Eddie…” He sounded so  _ broken _ . Eddie just shook his head, crying. 

“I’m here. I’m here, Richie, it’s me.” Eddie wrapped his arms around Richie as they both let out heavy sobs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well hope you liked it! This is just the first story in the series, so stay tuned. And don't forget to leave kudos and comments, I love feedback!

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you like it! Make sure to leave kudos and comments, I love feedback!


End file.
